Why is it difficult, if not impossible, for science to prove the existence of God or gods?

Foreword: Before I begin, I would like to suggest the reader to keep an open mind on the topic. In this essay [or article], I will be drawing information mainly from the Bible, my knowledge of the Abrahamic religions and atheist arguments. It is inevitable for me to touch on a few raw nerves here and there, so if any reader feels the need to voice out his/her comments, feel free to post it here.

Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism….. The world today is cluttered with countless religions and sects. Christianity alone, including the Catholics, has hundreds of sects ranging from the Charismatics to the Pentecostalists. According to estimates by various religious bodies, only approximately a third of the world are free-thinkers, atheists or agnostics. However, despite the pervasiveness of the concept of the existence of a higher power, often termed or called God, the global scientific community are unable to reach a consensus on whether God exists. The reason: no one has been able to prove the existence of any God or gods satisfactorily. It is difficult, if not impossible, to prove the existence of God through scientific means.

Firstly, science on its own is a study of the world around us. In other words, what science does, infallibly, is to generate data and raw, uninterpreted, information about the world around us. What happens after the data is generated is that the human mind starts to attach meanings and attempt to formulate patterns to fit the data or to create a general theory which satisfies the data. However, as much as our ability to do such things have served us well for the past 3 million years, it creates a weakness in science: science in its rawest form is correct, but our refined and interpreted versions of it might not be. For an example, take 4 colored circles with a quarter taken out from each, when arranged in a circle, with the empty spaces facing inwards. Psychologists have found that the human mind automatically, by cognitive function, see the “invisible” square or diamond.
From the first stage raw data onwards, science is no longer utterly correct as it has been interpreted. Therefore, how a person interprets the raw data affects the conclusion on whether God exists. In other words, this involves the use of schema or the predominant beliefs held by a person. If the person is an atheist, he would likely interpret the data as to disprove the existence of God and the reverse for a believer. This boils down to a question of perspectives, schema and predominant belief systems.

Secondly, according to the definitions of God or gods by most religions and modern theologies, God or gods possess the qualities of omnipotence and omniscience. For humans who are most certainly not omniscient, it is impossible for us to discern whether God exists by looking at scientific data. Some look to unusual, unexplainable and miraculous phenomena to prove the existence of God. In fact, most believers or agnostic arguments arise from the belief that when divine interventions, events or miracles happen, it can be noticed and recorded. However, according to the dominant definitions of God or gods, they are omniscient and omnipotent. In other words, should He or She or They decide to intervene and run the world, humanity cannot discern it as they could simply work through the natural laws in place already. Or, as most theories of God(s) go, since God(s) shaped the world, they shaped the natural laws such that they can simply work through them. Since science is based on the study of the world and the natural laws, it is impossible to detect the existence of God(s) through them, unless God(s) decide to show themselves through science. That of course, by major religions, is highly unlikely since it is meant to be by faith, not by scientific reasoning. Therefore, it is difficult to tell the existence of God(s) through science since science is founded on the very laws which God(s) might work through.

Finally, the limitations of the human mind do not allow us to comprehend the reality of God(s) from a logical point of view. As science is based on human logic, it has the same limitations. Modern religions and theologies define God(s) as omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and eternal. The human mind, despite the predominant belief that it is limitless, does not have the full capacity to understand the entire concept of God. The reason is: the concepts of eternity, omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence are beyond us. A Christian Bible verse puts it well: “…for His ways are higher than our ways…”. God(s) is/are beyond us. True, we have the definitions that God(s) is/are omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and eternal, but do we truly comprehend them from a logical point of view? Thus, science itself cannot comprehend the reality of God and is therefore unable to prove the existence of God.

However, there are people who believe that science can prove the existence of God. The predominant argument involves looking for similarities in actual history and the history as told in their doctrinal histories. For an example, it is written in Exodus of the Christian/Catholic Bible and Judaism scriptures that Moses the prophet called on Yahweh, or God, who divided the Red Sea for the Israelites to flee from the pursuing Egyptians. There is a similar incident in the histories unravelled by science. According to geological evidence, the Red Sea was merely 3 inches thick, around the time which Moses and the Israelites crossed over. However, whether the fate of the Egyptians who pursued them was caused by the Israelites or the Red Sea closing over them is still much in question. From such scientifically proven incidents, people conclude that God does exist.

Secondly, some believers have chosen another way to interpret their doctrinal scriptures and histories in an extremely symbolic manner, which allows people to use science to prove the existence of God(s). Their rationale is that the scriptures from God(s) often come through divinely inspired moments which the human mind cannot comprehend, save through symbols. This is based on the understanding that the human mind might not be capable of comprehending divine realities. For an example, science has discovered that there have been incidents like the Great Flood mentioned in the Christian/Jewish/Catholic scriptures of Genesis. If the timeline of Genesis is broken down into symbols, it is possible that the Great Flood mentioned in Genesis coincides with the real Great Flood. Through the breaking down of divinely inspired scriptures into symbols it is possible for science to coincide with doctrinal histories.

However, there is a fundamental assumption in these arguments that science can prove the existence of God: that the proving of the truth of doctrines prove the existence of God. It is possible that doctrinal histories actually coincide with real histories, but whether or not God or gods exist is a separate issue. This therefore means that it is difficult, if not impossible for science to prove the existence of God.

In conclusion, it becomes a matter of perspective on whether the existence of God can or cannot be proven by science. Science itself is founded on a pile of assumptions and beliefs, such as the absence of evidence is the evidence of absence. If a person takes these assumptions and beliefs to be true, along with the assumption that if doctrinal history is proven correct, then God exists, by belief or perspective, then he can prove the existence of God through science. However, assumptions are assumptions,meaning that they will have instances which those assumptions will be held false. Therefore, since science is indeed limited because of these assumptions or beliefs, it is difficult to prove the existence of God via science because it in itself is limited.

《相机》

“各位亲爱的旅客，飞机将在十五分钟后降落在香港白云机场，请您做好准备！….. ”

空中小姐亲切又温柔的声音将我从梦中拉回到了现实，我睡眼惺忪的打开飞机窗口，望着飞机下越过的那一片海洋，望着逐渐靠近的那座岛屿，望着那个阳光下钢筋水泥式的森林，近了，近了！我终于又回到了您的怀抱，我的母亲、我的出生地。往事不由一幕幕涌上心头……

二十年前 ，我的父母因为一场可怕的车祸双双身亡 ，只留下我独自一人忍受着这莫大的痛苦，那年我只有十岁！幸好善良的姑妈在此时出现了，她将我带来了新加坡，她将我视如己出，用自己的一双勤劳的双手将我养育成人。

飞机正在缓缓降落，望着越来越近的景物，我即熟悉又陌生，一种莫名的悲伤向我袭来，并将我紧紧包围。

走出机场，入住酒店，这一切就如同在其他国家旅行一样。一进入房间， 放下行李，我就迫不及待的坐上了一辆的士前往一个本地人称“山顶”的地方，这也是姑妈极力推荐的。

下了德士，阵阵花香扑鼻，我便跟随着花香一路走到了山顶，眼前的景色美得让人无法相信自己是在人间，此时正值春天，满山的百花争奇斗艳，红的、黄的、白的、紫的，遍地的绿草绿得像一块美玉，这一切美得犹如在画中，怪不得姑妈极力推荐呢！

看着美景心情也自然也随之开朗了起来，我从随身的包中拿出了跟随我一起走南闯北好多年的高级数码相机，对着眼前的美景兴奋得按下了快门，我边走边拍，不久我在一棵杜鹃花旁停住了脚步，那花是那么的鲜艳，那么的有着青春的气息，突然很想为自己此时的兴奋心情拍照留念，便想请路人来帮忙。刚巧有一位中年男子从这里经过，他样貌端正，看起来是个可以信赖的人。

“对不起，先生！”我操着生硬的广东话向那位先生救助。那位男子先是一愣，紧接着露出了笑容并从我手中接过了相机，我走近心仪的杜鹃花，刚一转身，便听见身后传来中年男子急匆匆的脚步声。我愣住了！

眼前的一切使我的脑袋僵硬，不知所措！他竟然拿走了我的相机，那可是我“宝”，里面还珍藏了我这几年来的全部心血啊！我拼命地向男子逃走的方向追去，一边跑一边向其他路人喊叫求助，有两位好心的路人挺身而出也加入了追捕的行列。眼看就要追上了，那位男子突然转向了一个十字路口，就在这时“碰”的一声，一辆迎面驶来的汽车迎头撞上了那位男子。

时间好像停止了一样，男子瘦削的身体飘然离地，在空中来了个转身，接着便在落在几米外的地方，这一幕比起刚才的那一幕更让我的脑袋木纳！我本能的冲了过去，想要拦住肇事司机，但司机却先行一步逃之夭夭了！

男子躺在了地上一动不动，我赶紧跑到男子身边，我看到一股鲜血从他的口角流出，他慢慢睁开了眼，看到是我，便用恳求的眼神望着我，并费力的张开嘴“对…不…起….！我…我不是故意的…”他喃喃得说着，我便附身把自己的耳朵贴近他的嘴唇。

此刻周围已经被一大群好事的人包围了，远远的也听到了警车和救护车呼啸而来的声音。“我…，我有个女儿…今年八岁了…她有病…求您…不要将刚才的事…告诉警察！求…求您了！”男子上气不接下气的说着。我紧紧握着他的手，就像是紧握着他的生命，并拼命的点头。“你会没事的，你的女儿还在家里等你回去呢！”男子听了笑了笑，又一次合上了眼睛。

“先生！先生！你要坚持啊！”我在一旁大声的叫着，随着救护车又一次呼啸而去，一朵美丽的杜鹃花随着风跟随着救护车飘呀飘……

我合上了手中的那本童话故事，望着躺在医院病床上睡得正香的丽丽，为了不吵醒她，我便轻轻的将书放在了桌上，这时一名中年男子柱着拐杖一瘸一拐的走进病房。

“睡着了？”男子轻声地问我

“嗯 ！”

我转过头望着窗外，又是一年春来到，今年的杜鹃花开得特别红，特别艳。

《足球》

在茫茫人生道路中，人多多少少会对某些事物，某些事情的感触特别多。我虽然说不上经历了人生的一大部份，但是对某些事，我的感想特别多。这篇文章可说是表达我当年中四的思想，也可说是一篇表达我想念中四日子的文章。

一堞写满了数字，数学符号的纸张堆了在我的桌子上。告休息时间的校铃刚响完，班上大部份的人已经涌到附近食堂里去了，而我自己默默一个人留在班上自修数学。在这个时候，我的心境如我目前的课室一样的冷漠，一样的空虚。我望着摆在身前的课本，硬硬的吭着闷在心里的那股说不出来的酸味，拿起我的笔，在一张纸上开始解开数学问题。

没多久，班上几位男生跑进了课室，从班上的一个架子上拿下了足球，然后转身跑到课室外的小型石泥球场去。我望着他们的离去背影，心中的酸味简直要涌进我的眼睛。不，这是我自己选择走的路，是我为了自己的未来所牺牲的东西。我早就知道自己走着条路所要牺牲的东西。可是，自己以前幼稚的我望着未来的时候，根本就没有想到自己心灵上所要付出的代价。

小时候的我立志的时候，我决定了自己要走学业上最坚苦的路：我要当一位医生。因此，我就从小开始极少到室外玩耍玩球；基本上是不会踢足球，不会打篮球。可能是我小时候不喜欢运动，或者是对自己体能没有信心罢了。但是到了十六岁的我，连足球都不会踢，对自己玩球之类的信心半点都无。

课室外踢球声中的笑声犹如一股雷声传进了我的耳朵。我硬硬的逼着自己看着数学课本，将自己埋在数学之中。

“谓！你要不要下来和我们一起踢球？”平时坐在我身边上课的男生走进了课室问我。

我傻了。若我下去和他们一起去踢球，毫无踢球经验的我肯定会极大的现丑。

“我…我不会踢球。”

“踢几下就会的啦！来，来跟我们踢球吧！”

“喔。”

我合上了课本，跟着他走出了黯然冷漠的课室，走进了阳光灿烂的下午。起初半寸都不会踢球的我，踢球肯定不会好到那里去。我向球踢出的那几十脚，有一大半根本就没有碰到球，踢到球的那几次到底踢得怎么样就免谈了。但是，我在那半个小时所获得的东西不但只是球技，也获得了一种我一生中，除了在教堂于家庭以外，找不到得感觉。

归属感。

大部分人踢足球是为了玩玩，为了令自己快乐。但是我，我是为了得到归属感而踢足球。

我对着群和我一起走到普通水准考试，“O”水准考试，的同学最念念不忘的并不是我们一起快快乐乐的时光，也不是大家一起奋斗之后所取得的良好成绩。我想念的是，在灿烂的阳光之下踢足球的那群同学，在我或者其他同学踢球时踢得不好或者是不小心让足球进龙门时候所说的那声：

“没关系，再来一次。”

Is poverty an inevitable feature in any society?

The poor – a phrase which often conjures up images of starved and filthy beggars that linger on the side of streets, depending on the goodwill of their “clients” for a living. At that, many in more developed and advanced countries, such as Singapore, would secretly congratulate themselves  on the seemingly banished poverty in their own country. However, what they fail to see are things such as 1-room apartments and makeshift residences under bridges, which are, mercifully, kept out of plain sight. 80% of the world lives in countries with widening income disparities and half of the human race survives on less than US$2.50 a day, according to reports released in 2008 by the United Nations. The poor have become an omnipresent entity and component of every society, making it an inevitable feature of any society.

To understand why the poor are an inevitable feature of society, an understanding of why they exist in the first place is needed. As Sebastian Chamfort, a famous French writer and conversationalist, so aptly noted, “Society comprises of two classes: those who have more food than appetite, and those who have more appetite than food.” Suffice to say, because of various reasons, such as human greed, to obtain social status and power, humans compete amongst themselves for the limited wealth available on this world. Disparities in the wealth distribution of the population result. Over time, as those with more wealth has more power, the wealthy become wealthier and the poor becomes poorer, trapping the poor in a vicious cycle. So long as there is an unequal distribution of wealth, the poor will persist. This, is the foundation principle of the infamous economic movement sparked by the German philosopher, Karl Marx’s economic theories on communism. However, thanks to the difficulties in redistributing wealth and human greed, these idealistic theories have failed in the Soviet Union and even China. For communism to work, all of the individuals of an entity, be it a society or country, must agree to it, even if it leaves a person with less than what he had before. This, is not possible. Therefore, eliminating poverty in a society by redistributing wealth is but an ideal, but nothing more.

As some who believe that poverty is avoidable in society would argue, by empowering the poor with more power to gain wealth, the poor can be eliminated. For an example, by providing education which is comparable or even equal to those who are wealthier for the poor, we are empowering the poor to gain wealth. The logic is, with education, especially good education, the poor will land in a decent job which will bring them out of poverty. However, the question is, how feasible is such empowering? The finances required to effect any large-scale empowerment, such as educating every child in the world requires gargantuan amounts of resources. For an example, estimates from the United Nations have put the cost of educating every single poverty-stricken child in the world to be 6 billion US dollars. Basic healthcare, nutrition, water and sanitation, elements required to raise these children, together will cost 34 billion US dollars. Those sums of money are beyond most charity or welfare organisations ability, more so in countries with severely corrupted governments or low accessibility. Therefore, empowering the poor is not a feasible means to eliminate poverty from society, as hopeful or sensible as it sounds.

Despite all that is being said about the lack of feasibility in empowering the poor to bring them out of poverty, these attempts deserve credits as they do succeed. Take Singapore for an example, had the Singaporean Prime Ministers, Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Sien Long Lee Sien Loong, not placed heavy emphasis on education, Singapore would not be as developed as she is today. Within a span of less than 50 years, with the aid of education, Singapore has transformed from the island backwaters it was before to the metropolis it is today. Although poverty has not been eliminated from the country, education is one of the main reasons for Singapore’s rapid progress.

Perhaps one of the most commonly seen methods advocated and used to bring the poor out of their poverty would be through donations, which can be in the form of either money or necessities. However, such donations do not necessarily bring the poor out of their situation. As the old saying goes, “give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime”.These donations are merely fish that will sate their hunger for only a limited period of time, a period which ends when the donations they received are exhausted. Furthermore, alleviating poverty through donations is not a sustainable means of relief. Statistics from the United Nations have shown that for every $1 dollar received by a developing country, the country incurs another $25 in debt. In other words, the donations are poured down a bottomless pit of poverty. To truly eliminate poverty from society, there must be a long term and sustainable solution.

However, credit must be given to donators. In their contribution to alleviating the poverty situation around the world. Without such donations, many of the poor would not have been given the opportunity to receive education and business loans, both of which are crucial to eliminating poverty in a sustainable manner. But still, the fact is, the poor still remains.

In conclusion, although there are ways proposed to remove the poor from society, a majority of which has some degree of success, removing the poor entirely from society is not possible. Thus, the poor is an inevitable feature of society.

Last of the Ancients [Sneak Preview]

Okay, this is short sneak preview from the novel which I have been trying to write. Its going to be some time before i can be done with it and i hope to be able to publish it as an e-Book next year.

Exerpt from Last of the Ancients:

The man stood in the centre of the circular underground chamber, his arms bent to form a circular arc before him. Within the space enclosed by his arms, a large circle of multi-colored energies blazed on the cold stone floor. The circle cast out an eerie, shifting radiance that made his short, silvery blond hair, high cheekbones and strong aquiline features appear as though they were caught in a rainbow through a lens of moving water. The sleeves of his fluttering royal purple robes were rolled up to his shoulders to reveal arms that seemed as if juggling boulders is his favorite hobby.

The man smiled to himself. For the past fifteen generations, he had lived in one body after another, searching for the means to do what he was about to accomplish tonight.

Tonight, just the thought of it filled him with ecstatic anticipation.

He swept the circle with his mind, probing at the matrix crystal held within the circle. For years, he had poured out his will upon one crystal after another, altering their atomic structures in an attempt to create a spell that will accomplish what he is going to do tonight. After countless experiments, he had succeeded in constructing the perfect spell in the thumb sized sapphire that sat in the circle now.

Satisfied that the matrix bore no flaws, the man turned his psychic attention to man-sized ovoid quartz crystals embedded in the stone walls of the chamber at regular intervals. Within each of these magically formed and polished behemoths, he had amassed a store of power drawn from the shield generators in the city. Even as the magicians gave their power to the generators daily, a portion of the power would find its way to these crystals, unnoticed by even the most powerful magicians.

Well, they are humans after all.

Reaching deep into the store of power within him, he shaped it and sent it out at the crystals embedded on the walls with an incantation. Lines of incandescent power flared into existence within each crystal to form a lattice of blazing lines, and shot out to join the other crystals around the chamber. When the incantation was complete, a network of incandescent lines spanned the edge of the chamber. Each line resonated with a different note even as energy flowed through them from one crystal to another. At an unheard signal, power lanced from the crystals and entered the matrix crystal.

The matrix crystal flared in response to the energies into it and a sphere of opaque black fire surrounded it. The man smiled again, this time with savage glee. Within a few moments, the spell within the matrix will activate and he will taste the fruit of his millennia long labor, at last.

A flicker of psychic energy at the corner of his mind caught his attention. He spun around on the balls of his feet. How did anything manage to enter this chamber without detection from his wards? To mortal eyes, the mind of the teenaged girl hovering above the array of crystals was invisible, but to his mind’s eyes, she was anything but invisible.

With a thought, the man fashioned a bolt of psychic energy and hurled it at the intruding mind. Black sparks exploded from the bolt even as it shattered on the girl’s hastily conjured shield, but the shield held. The man frowned and called forth a whirling vortex of black energies from within him and trapped her in it. Shards of intense white fire and powerful streaks of lightning lanced out of the girl’s mind at him and detonated on his shield with cataclysmic force.
The man’s eyes narrowed. The mind which had ventured into his chamber was no ordinary mind of a magician. Upon receiving the first strike from him, most human magicians would have either been utterly destroyed or exhausted. However, she had not only the strength to deflect that first strike, but also to withstand a vortex of power that would have obliterated an army in a blink and retaliate with such powerful strikes. Not to mention, she had enough skill to bypass all of his most sensitive and powerful wards to enter this chamber.

A chill ran down his spine even as the implications of these feats struck him. This girl was one of the Melvani, a race of mages that wielded magic of unsurpassed quantities. One who can destroy whole armies without aid. A magician with powers that surpasses the strongest human magician by at least a hundredfold.

Impossible, including himself, only five of that race remained.

A Period of Depression

I stood alone, on the edge of the world where the land meets the sea. In this dark silent night, there was no other sound, but the sound of gentle waves lapping against the sandy shore. Under the clouded moonlight, the waves glinted with gentle silver light, moving and rippling with flickers of living light. Even the stars tonight seemed faint, as though the world dying and they were grieving and could not bear to look upon it. Staring out from where I stood to the ends of the world, I saw naught save the darkness that lay beyond where neither starlight nor moonlight could pierce.

Aye, it was darkness, a darkness that within me which I had always known about. In the dark confines of this night, I stood alone, watching the moonlight and starlight beginning to fade and the darkness around me closing within. A gale blew past me, chilling me in the place where I now hid within myself. I looked out from the depths of myself and I beheld who I was again in the rippling waters.

Dark.

It has been such a long time since I had felt this way.

I closed my eyes and let began to let my control go. Within the depths of my being, where darkness and light mingled, the war began. Memories of every single thing that I was ashamed of, from the smallest to the largest flowed into my mind with the relentless torrent of a hurricane bent on destruction. I saw myself once more, and this time, I allowed the image of myself to fall apart and within the confines of my innermost being, the darkness of the damned closed around me.

Hypocrisy, lies, deception, pain, sorrow, shame….. all of these flowed through my mind, relentlessly. Even now, when I am alone, I am hiding within myself, sculpturing the landscape of my innermost being to form this beach. I am hiding, from myself.

The hypocrisy of it all made me feel sick.

I reached out with the tools of my mind seeking to put a stop to the gale that was howling around me. Nothing happened. My strength to even reshape a single imaginary condition within the landscape of my mind is gone.

Sinking to my knees on the soft sand, I closed my eyes even as the darkness around me closed. Aye, there is no release, no escape, no delay in what I was going to experience. Cold fingers reached up to me from under the sand, and I opened my eyes once again. The darkness around me was complete. Only the patch of sand I was kneeling on was visible now. Misty figures materialized out of where the ground was before the darkness flooded over it, with frosty, misted fingers reaching out for me. In every single one of those faces, I saw the memories which I feared so much, the memories I loathed so much, made flesh. The lies and masks which I have worn so often, hiding myself from others and myself, the misusage of my gift with words to create untrue images of myself and to twist the image of others, the hypocrisy that hid underneath the surface of my mind, the webs of fear, hatred and self-denial that I have so efficiently constructed around myself….

They have come for me.

Like wraiths of the ancient days, they loomed up to me, passing through and shattering the last of my fragile barriers. Pain, agony, self-loathing, hatred for who I am, all of these exploded into me even as they brushed against this empty shell which was myself.

With the last frantic effort, I wrenched open my fleshly eyes and found myself gazing blankly into the air in a dark, empty room. Tears were already dripping down my eyes, rivulets of pain that spoke of that momentary confrontation I had with myself. I tore my eyes from the space I was gazing at and reached for the light switch. When my fingers touched the switch, I paused for a moment, the nightmare of my memories was still strong.

I must be losing my sanity.

I turned on the lights and it blinded me momentarily with a burst of dazzling white brilliance. The blue file that contained my guitar scores sat on the edge of my bed, a distraction that might prove to be essential to saving what’s left of my sanity. With my guitar out of its casing and tuned, I opened the file to a random page and looked.

The song which I flipped to threatened my sanity and emotional stability even more.

Why? Of all pages, I have to flip to this particular Christian song? True, most of the songs in the file were Christian and the chances of flipping open the file randomly to a non-Christian one was slim. But of all those numerous songs, songs of praise and of joyous worship, must I flip to this particular one?

Amazing Grace.

I glanced through the whole song, recalling the melody and the inflections to sing and to play it. However, even as my hand moved on the guitar to the first chord, the reason why I’d rather sing another song other than this one came to my mind again. My hands hesitated over the guitar and despair welled up from deep within me. Alone, I had almost always felt alone. Even in a crowd of people that I know, I seemed awkwardly out of place. Intellectually, I understood that I was never alone, not even in my own thoughts, but emotionally, I almost always felt that way. After looking at all the memories and list of personal failings and reliving the related memory in my mind, I was well aware of what I deserved.

My hands hung over the guitar, frozen in time. Do I have that right to play and to sing this song? After all those times which I’ve let God down, all the times I failed Him and made a fool out of our religion, do I still possess the right to worship Him? Much less, do I have the right to sing those lyrics? Once again, my eyes traveled through the first lines of the song and my eyes threatened to release another torrent. I took my eyes off the score and let the torrent flow. After all that I’ve done, I didn’t believe that I had the right. Closing my eyes, I almost reached out for the being which I had long known to be God and spoke that very thought aloud.

“Do I have the right?” Knives went through my innermost being even as the question left my lips. Another fresh torrent of tears, combined with a sense of blackest despair hit me.

Somewhere deep inside of me, a voice whispered like the first tendrils of a small breeze. Softly and gently, it spoke a single word, a word which sent thrills down my spine. The power within that simple word opened up my being entirely, in a way that felt as though someone was gently reaching in and lovingly caressing the tiny bit that remained within this shell of mine. The word, though it was barely even the softest of whispers, meant the world to me.

“Yes.”

The fingers that were held in stasis over the guitar strings moved and the first notes of the E chord cascaded out of the guitar. Another movement upwards brought the higher notes of the chord to life. With a practiced hand, my hands moved across the fingerboard and shifted the chord again. Before the introduction of the song was even over, tears poured out the well of my being, for I had never felt so loved, secure and above all, comforted, by others. Not even my parents could hope to match the emanations of love coming from this invisible, ethereal being.

This, is God.

Even as He closed His arms around my thought, speaking thoughts of reassurance, love and of appreciation, I reached for the first chord of the first verse, and sang.

The first words of the now modernized old song spilled out of the depths of the emptiness that once existed in me. Slowly, I was losing myself in His embrace, entering deeper and deeper into the unity that held us both, and enjoying every nanosecond of it. Wherever He touched in me, light and life sprang forth, filling and dispelling the darkness of self damnation that haunted my soul. With nothing more than a gentle caress, the emptiness within me was banished.

I was no longer alone.

The rivulets that streamed down the sides of my face were no longer that of pain or of self-recrimination, they were of the most ancient and most powerful force on earth. The force that called the world to be, the force that made Man as it is [by creation, evolution or some other way not known to Man] and above all, the force that was willing to overcome all the odds to reunite with me.

Love.

My personal weakness, my hundred and one failures, all the times I made a fool out of myself and/or God….. None, none of those mattered now. At His touch, the pain turned vanished and once more, after a terribly long time, I felt whole again.

Above all, I was home, at last.

How I became Christian

What I am about to share here is a testimony of how I was brought to Christ and found Him. Those who have heard my recounts probably heard a little variation here and there as impromptu does not yield consistency. The rest who know me are also probably aware that I am a science student who believes in science and thus embracing Christianity seems rather unnatural for me. My recount here is going to be rather lengthy, I admit, as the process began when I was rather young.

My desire to believe in the idea of a God began when I was in primary school [aka elementary school in certain parts of the world]. The primary school I was enrolled in was an Anglican school and even to this day, I suspect that the notion of a God was planted in my childish, open mind. My first encounter with Him was on a dry, hot day in primary two when the idea of praying for rain popped into my mind. I simply stood there, closed my eyes and tried to persuade God to let it rain. Even till today, I can recall snatches of that particular prayer.

Five minutes later, clouds gathered and it rained.

Perhaps it was the openness of my mind and the ability to trust lightly at the age of 8 that allowed the prayer to work. The rain appeared out of nowhere and my knowledge of the weather in Singapore tells me that it was definitely a freak shower, which points suspiciously at God. But I didn’t turn into a Christian then.

Apart from those hasty prayers I murmur in desperation before entering the examination halls, there was no further development until I reached secondary school [7th to 10th grade if I am correct]. In secondary 2 [8th grade], I had the worst ever emotional attack that would have made me enter prolonged depression or even suicide had God not been there to intervened. What happened was that I was managing a group of peers to perform for our literature assignment. Unfortunately, the people I was leading had a pair of students who bore some kind of grudge against each other. Added to that, I was frequently picked on by certain peers [the word you are looking for is “bullies”]. Trying to manage that pair almost drove me to insanity at times and there were a couple of shouting matches. One of them actually tried to upsurge my leadership, which I was supremely frustrated at.

Eventually, more group members joined in the fray and muddied the waters so badly that I was all there was to hold the group in place. The teacher-in-charge tried to reconcile the pair a few times, like I did, and we both failed, epically. A few other people in the group and I are the only ones who truly remained neutral in the conflict.

The conflict got from bad to worse.

It reached the point where one of the pair was adamant on separation. I labored in vain and in pain to close the rift again but this time, I failed, with devastating results. After a series of voting which he tried to oust me, our group split. In my last, desperate attempt to hold the group together, I talked to the insurgent, about keeping the group intact. It was not only the cohesion of the group being put at stake, the money involved in the props and all is also going to be rather difficult to deal with. My teacher-in-charge had tried everything he could short of physical discipline and I thought I had a chance to salvage everything and keep us intact. Sad to say, it was not meant to be.

Just when I was interceding with the guy who was breaking away from us, the jackals, vultures and pickers of bones couldn’t have chosen a better time to attack. My nerves were already taut enough and I was under tremendous pressure as if half the group breaks away, that would spell disaster. They started to point out that I maintain a calm demeanor and began to say things like me being a hypocrite and a false person to “act cool” and stuff. That shattered my nerves and before I could explode [or implode for that matter], I simply walked out of the school as fast as I could.

What they didn’t notice from my shrinking back was that my eyes were swelling and the tears that threatened to fall.

Keeping my emotions under control then as I took the bus home was probably the most demanding test of my control ever. I will not collapse emotionally in public, not if I want to keep my pride and dignity. Occasionally, it escaped my control for a second or two and my eyes would redden against my pale, trembling face.

It exploded the moment I closed my room door behind me. Suicidal thoughts flooded my mind, along with a torrent of self-pity and self-berating. Why? After all that I’ve done to keep the group in one piece to work for my assignment, why did this happen? Knives looked very attractive at that moment and the window seemed terribly attractive. But, I did not dare to do it. Instead of leaving a mess in my room that would tell the tale, I regained a measure of my control, slipped into the bathroom with a fresh set of clothes. The moment I stepped into the running shower, my remaining control shattered and I stood there, all alone with nothing but my own thoughts for company.

Even as a fresh torrent burst out of my eyes, my thoughts somehow turned to this God I prayed to before my examinations, this God which I believed to exist but never knew the religion. In that very moment, I had the first, real encounter with Him. He popped in. In that fleeting moment, my mind was swamped with love, love which the entire universe can never hope to contain. From my conscious thought to the deepest reaches of my soul, He touched me and before His love, everything melted away. For one fleeting moment, He let me know that I was never alone and He will be with me until the very end. The embrace of His thoughts turned my mind from my suicidal thoughts. I cannot commit suicide, not when I am going to leave this being and be alone in the Hell promised for those who commit suicide. When that moment passed, I was not crying tears of sorrow, of pain anymore. It was tears of love that came rolling down my cheeks.

Just a note here, back then, my knowledge of Jesus was almost nil, except for the Cross of Calvary [I didn’t believe in Christ then, actually]. However, I did not become Christian then. Something held me back and that breakthrough did not come till much later.

In the 2nd half of my secondary 3 year [9th grade], there was a temporary addition to my class. He was actually studying in an international school in Beijing and it was his summer break. As he was a Singaporean, he came back for his vacation. By some unknown inspiration, his father decided to let him have a taste of Singaporean education life and he ended up in my class, sitting next to me. Something about him made me want to follow his footsteps. He carried a sense of presence with him that reminded me of something which I held dear but I had forgotten. It was only last year when I realized that there was a term for this presence: anointing. In a way, I looked up to him as an elder brother [he was a year older] and tried to follow him.

The fact that he was Christian was the final push that I needed to turn to a church. At first, I went to a church in my neighborhood, a Catholic church. Yet, I felt there was something there that was lacking. I am not saying that Catholic Churches are not that good, they are actually excellent, but being Catholic does not suit me. It was also then that I found out that he was not Catholic but actually of the Protestant faith. So, I began to seek another church. Then, I came across this bible teacher from the Children Church ministry of the church I have settled in. When I came to her, she was more than happy to bring me to church in her Sunday morning service.

The atmosphere in this church was very different from the Catholic Church I attended. There was life, vibrancy, joy, peace, serenity, excitement and above all, a sense of a benevolent presence and power in the air. Even as the people lifted their hands to sing, to clap, I could feel the atmosphere changing, as though supercharging and the power that gathered in the place was making my hair stand. When the people prayed in tongues, my skin was actually prickling with the power of the Holy Spirit in the air. Something in the air kept reminding me of something I felt before, and I want to feel again. Throughout the first three services I went with her, she never made a move to invite me for altar call.

I have suspicions that she was lead by the Holy Spirit and she knew that I was close to turning Christian.

Anyway, on the third or fourth service, I made up my mind. I walked up to the altar, with the dear teacher who brought me to church behind me. The acceptance of Jesus into my life was a simple process, just a prayer and it is done. However, I have to admit that my true walk with God did not begin then.

It was only when I was settled in a cell group, and attended my first cell group meeting that my walk with God trule began. After spending two hours on singing praise and worship songs with a guitar together, praying and listening to the cell group leader’s short sermon, I went home. Something about those songs attracted me and when I closed my door and turned off the lights, I tried to sing them again, without any instrumentation, from memory and from the lyrics sheet. After finishing my favorite song of that first meeting [God of my Forever], I tried to speak in tongues.

The moment I opened my mouth, He came. Like the previous time, the feel of His thoughts was simply love. Love in its purest, most radiant and beautiful form. Even as I melted away in His presence, simply holding on to that love which I felt, I felt Him, physically. It was then that I truly began to pray. The first words of my prayer was regarding acceptance, His acceptance of my long list of failings. Even as I prayed, His embrace tightened and the sense of Him standing before me intensified.

When the last words of my prayer came out, ending with an Amen, my shirt was already wet with the tears of love. The love that accepted me for who I am, for what I am, for the hypocrite I think I am, for the failure I think I am….. Love that never fails, love that makes the universe seems miniscule in comparison.

Above all, He has welcomed me home.

And home, I shall be, to the end of my days.

A very close friend and sister-in-Christ once sent me a verse from the Bible that goes like this: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, for He came to the world not to judge the world, but through Him all will be saved.” She laid the foundations of my faith, and perhaps my everything as I draw closer to God. That guy in my class brought down God to me and she shaped and helped me to grow in God.

For me, God is more than just a God to me. He’s a friend, someone I could talk to, to share my burdens, my pains and my thoughts with. He’s my Father who cares for me so much that He gave His Son for me to die on the Cross so that I could be with Him this way. The Cross is not a general thing, it’s personal.

I hope and I pray that these few hours I spent writing this testimony were not in vain. The pen can never express the true extent of how it feels like to be with Him, to feel His everlasting grace and love embracing you, touching you, accepting you. The only way to experience Him as such is to really seek Him.

For the atheist and skeptics, if you want proof, I am afraid that I cannot provide that. To every single Christian who are close enough to Him, we know that He exists and that He loves us, without a question. It’s an experiential thing that no one can ever comprehend without experiencing it himself or herself.

And one of the best places to experience Him in this world, is City Harvest Church.

God bless you!

PS: Timothy and Isabelle, i cannot express the amount of gratitude i have for the both of you for shaping my life. May God give you the dew of the heavens and the fatness of the earth and bathe your steps with cream for all the days of your life.

PPS: Many thanks to the Children Church teacher for bringing me to City Harvest that day, 2 years ago…

“Statistics measure everything but proves nothing.” Discuss.

Throughout the ages, statistics have been an invaluable tool for prediction and forecasting. It is undoubtedly one of the most commonly used tools of prediction, both modern and ancient. From the predictions which face a die would land on to the arcane mathematics of electronic orbits around atoms to the weather forecasts seen on the newspapers daily, the use of statistics is evident. Yet, despite all the accurate predictions that statistics have made, one question remains: do statistics prove anything?

There are two schools of thought on this matter. Let’s begin with the arguments put forth by disbelievers that statistics prove anything.

First of all, statistics merely show the likelihood of a certain event or the existence of an object, it does not prove that it will definitely happen or that it must exist. It is a percentage chance, not a definite confirmation. Taking the six sided die as an example, when the die is thrown, it has a 1/6 chance or 16.7% chance that it would land with the “6” facing upwards. This means that it is possible for the die to land as such, but it does not mean that it will. The die has a 5/6 or 83.3% chance of landing with any of the other 5 faces facing upwards. Therefore, the statistics does not prove that the die will land with the “6” facing upwards, but it does prove that it can happen. When one intends to prove anything, does one use the likelihood of it being true to prove it?

Secondly, whenever statistics are used to prove anything, its credibility and accuracy are always called into question. Statistics are often based on certain assumptions, such as the ceteris paribus assumption in economics and philosophy [which means “all other things being constant”]. Such assumptions create inaccuracies in the statistic, which in turn makes it incredible. Disbelievers further attack the credibility and inaccuracy of statistics by pointing out a flawed fundamental assumption of Science: the absence of evidence is the evidence of absence. As statistics are often based on scientific information, certain variables and factors thought not to exist are set to zero, or are not taken into consideration at all, discrediting the statistic and its accuracy. Reusing the example of the six sided die, when determining the chances that it lands with the “6” facing upwards, the chances of the die falling off the table, being manipulated by a skilled player or breaking is not taken into consideration. Thus, the 16.7% chance of the die landing as such can be considered inaccurate. Following this path of thought, the use of statistics to prove anything is therefore not proving anything as the statistic is inaccurate.

However, the believers that statistics do prove something have their own counterarguments and views to share.

A common counterargument by believers is: how does one prove the existence of anything or that an event will happen? Everything that we think to be true around us is true because the chances of them being true are high enough, but never 100%. This is especially true with the introduction of quantum physics which reveals that everything around us might be false but we believe them to be true because of the chances. If one were to say that statistics do not prove anything, one would also be saying that everything around him, thought to be true, is not proven! For instance, in higher levels of quantum physics and modern chemistry, one learns that electrons move in peculiar orbits called orbitals 95% of the time. If one were to say that statistics prove nothing, one would be saying that electrons do not move in those orbitals, but everywhere, including towards the positively charged nucleus of atoms. If that were true, we would not exist! Thus, one cannot say that statistics prove nothing.

Another counterargument, aimed specifically at the exclusion argument of disbelievers, is that although exclusion and assumptions do influence the result of the statistic, the statistic nevertheless shows the possibility of something, which means that it can exist or happen. If one were to think a little deeper, one would realize that all things can exist or happen, even if it happens once in a trillion or exists one in a trillion other things. Thus statistics prove everything! It does not prove nothing.  So long as there is a one or more on top of that infinitely large denominator in fractional chances, the even or object in question can happen or exist. Taking the well-worn example of the die, one realizes that even if one were to include the myriad of factors that were previously excluded, one will still end up with a non-zero percentage or fractional chance that the die will still land with the “6” facing upwards. Thus statistics do prove that something can exist or happen.

However, the disbelievers do have a few rebuttals.

For instance, since statistics prove everything is possible, statistics also prove that something can exist and not exist at the same time. This in itself is a contradiction. Ignoring the magnitude of the chances either way, this is akin to proving nothing. For something to exist, it must exist, not to exists and not exist at the same time! If we were to apply the arcane mathematics of quantum physics, for instance, my pen writing this essay would have passed through my hand and the table by now, but yet it is still there, writing away. In another world, this can happen but it does not happen in this world. Although believers can pull the obscure notion of “Planck’s Space”, a hypothetical space where existence and non-existence coexist, to show that statistics do prove something, the fact remains: statistics prove nothing.

Despite all of the arguments put forth by both schools of thought, some arcane, some queer and some convincing, it is ultimately up to the reader to decide whether statistics do prove anything. The beaten believer may dredge up the fact that as statistics proves nothing, it proves something, as a last resort and the half dead disbeliever might pull out an ancient, never decided argument about nothing not being something, but it is still entirely up to the reader to decide to determine which side to take.

Are Biblical Principles True?

Biblical principles, in general, refer to the principles that are taught or shown in the Bible and are supposedly meant to be used in our lives. Many Christians and non-Christians notice that when biblical principles are applied, the outcome is not as predicted or promised by the principles applied. In those cases, the principles seem to fail or are not working. Yet in other cases, the principles seem to hold true, for instance the principle of the harvest. When these contradictions happen, one cannot help but to ask: Are biblical principles true?

Let me begin with the arguments that biblical principles are untrue.

The Validity Argument

For something to be true, it must be always valid. In cases when the principles fail, it is thought to be invalid. With invalidity, comes untruth. This is like a science experiment that attempts to verify the truth of a scientific law allowing only one related variable to change and another dependent variable, ceteris paribus. In the case of biblical principles, by changing the relevant variables, certain results should be obtained. If we were to apply the ceteris paribus assumption, because the biblical principles were no proven in those cases, it appears to be untrue.
The failure of the principle of miracles through prayer and worship is a good example. In South Korea, some time ago, there was a small group of teenagers trying to cross a flood to get to their church. Based on the principle from the Bible, “Ask and it shall be given unto you” and a few parables, they prayed and attempted to walk on the floodwaters to their church. Their bodies were not found for a long time. This seems to indicate that at times, the biblical principles do fail, which means that they are not always valid and thus untrue.

The Coincidence Argument

The second argument deals with coincidence. When an event predicted by biblical principles happen, it can happen due to a magnitude of factors and conditions coinciding at the right time and place. This argument also casts doubt on the existence of God as He is not in control but chance is; which further proves that biblical principles are incorrect. Everything becomes a statistic, a set of percentages and fractional chances from then on. For instance, one might have received a bonus from the employer, which might be due to the principle of the harvest [you sow what you reap], be the seed your offerings or time and effort in your work. But by this argument, the windfall might have just simply happened because the employer had suddenly received much greater profits or some other coincidental factors. Thus, if the events predicted by the biblical principles do happen and do so by coincidence, it is safe to say that it is false.

The Non-Biblical Results Argument

Whenever the term “biblical principle” is mentioned, it carries connotations that the results from applying those principles cannot be obtained otherwise. Yet, even in everyday life, those very same results appearing seemingly without applying the right biblical principle or none at all. This also seems to violate biblical principles. Non-Christians, who acquired their riches from means that are definitely not biblical, such as money-laundering, corruption and nepotism, are one example. If the complete violation of biblical principles can still generate the same results, the biblical principles are therefore false.

However, as much as the arguments against the truth of biblical principles seem convincing, there are arguments for its truth. Some of these arguments are counterarguments to the arguments against the truth of biblical principles, while others simply support it.

The Supplementation Argument

The supplementation argument is one of those counterarguments that refute the validity argument. For a biblical principle to be applied successfully to the situation, it must be supplemented by other biblical principles and conditions. Reusing the example of the teenagers trying to walk on the flood in South Korea, the teenagers did not satisfy the sufficient biblical conditions and principles so that their prayer worked the way they wanted. One of the fundamental biblical conditions that were not satisfied would be that God must want to do it. If He did, He would have told the teenagers and they would have crossed the waters safely. Unfortunately, the idea was birthed from their own mind [or that of Satan, depending on where one would like to point], and not of God, and thus they were not ready for it.

Pastors, evangelists, prophets and healers, et cetera, do not work miracles simply because they willed it. It was God who wanted to and they served as the conduit for the miracles to happen. Dr David Yonggi Cho, founding and senior pastor of the world’s largest church [The Yoido Full Gospel Church], recounted that once a woman of his congregation approached him, desperate for healing. After doing countless acts prescribed in the Bible for the healing to happen [praying, confession, casting and binding out demons, et cetera], the woman was not healed. Why? God did not intend for her to be healed then and she was not ready for it. He then recounts another woman he met in a hospital who also needed healing desperately and he saw that she was ready for it. All he had to do was to say the words of faith and she was restored. The difference in the two cases: the former had the faith of man; the latter had the faith OF GOD.

Applying a principle without considering the other basic and fundamental conditions and principles will just simply result in no or little good results. The validity argument is therefore refuted as those seeming “failures” are due to the lack of fundamental conditions or principles at work.

This argument also refutes the coincidence argument. While at times, the conditions seem coincidental for the principle to yield the results it is supposed to, those conditions are mostly created. Reusing the example of the man receiving his bonus because of his employer’s increased profits, it is because of the man’s sowing into his work, the increase in profits came about. Thus, by considering the fact that that the conditions are created by the person who applied and received the results promised by the principle, we can safely say that the coincidence argument is refuted.

According to the supplementation argument, the Non-Biblical results argument is also refuted. According to the Bible, certain seeming evil conditions, such as the unrighteous obtaining wealth by unrighteous means, are necessary for certain biblical principles to be applied. For instance, the principle of the wealth transfer from the unrighteous to the hands of the righteous requires the unrighteous to be rich initially. This means that the non-biblical results arguments are not only refuted, it also describes the conditions which certain biblical principles require to work.

The Relevance Argument

What the relevance argument deals with is the fact that it is only when the biblical principle is of sufficient relevance to the situation that it becomes useful. This also explains why under some conditions and situations, the biblical principles appear to fail. For an example, would one sing OUTLOUD in the Holy Spirit on a crowded bus in public to create an atmosphere of faith? No. What it does then is the opposite, people would think you are a nutcase for singing gibberish and thus create an atmosphere of skepticism and avoidance. However, if you were to do so in the confines of your prayer closet or in church, it results in the result as predicted by the principle [of course, provided that you fulfill the supplementary conditions for it to happen].

In conclusion, it is safe to say that biblical principles are true. All one has to do to see the truth in them is to look beneath the surface of seeming violations of the principles and realize, ultimately, that those principles are true.